The springiness of Spring!

So March 18th the temperature was almost 60 degrees and the sun was shining. Ethan was more than excited to have a day at the park with his little friend Shannon!

So March 20th, my calendar says it is the first official day of Spring and we woke up to a good 3 inches of snow! However, this first official day of Spring also marks Clark's first official day of Spring Break! Yahoo!

I am loving Spring Break. I slept in an extra hour while Clark got up with Ethan and woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. Ethan loves pancakes lately and ended up with syrup covered pajamas. Breakfast somehow ended in a family dance party (videos below), Ethan has been working on his kick line skills lately. Ethan has LOVED literally being Clark's shadow all day long.

Too much syrup + too much spinning = one dizzy little boy.

A Whale of a Good Time!

Yesterday I had to teach sharing time to the primary kids. The theme for the week was "All Prophets Testify of Christ," so a few prophets made an appearance here in Des Moines. One that came was Jonah. Thanks to Clark helping the kids loved watching Jonah be swallowed by the whale.

It was so much fun we decided that we should teach Ethan the story of Jonah and the whale tonight for Family Home Evening. Ethan was Jonah and loved running from the giant whale!

Then he giggled like crazy when the whale swallowed him!

Reasons Why I Think Ethan Will Be a Good Big Brother...

1. He takes such good care of his stuffed animals!

No worries here! Birthday Bear has a strong heartbeat!

I love listening to him talk to his animals in his bed in the morning when he wakes up. He always tells them all "night night," and gives them all hugs and kisses before bed. I love that he tucks his Thomas train under a blanket before he goes upstairs for his naps so Thomas can rest too. Today while I was getting ready he unrolled half a roll of toilet paper and was making sure that Hobbes blew his nose. Tonight during family prayers he held Hobbes on his lap and folded his arms for him.

On our way out the door this afternoon Ethan grabbed one of my flip flops for his dog to wear.

2. He gives good hugs and kisses!

Ethan coming in today for a kiss!

It pretty much melts my heart everytime he runs up to me to give me a hug or a kiss for no reason at all! When he gets an "owie" and I kiss it better he then starts naming all of his other body parts and waits for me to kiss them before he is "all better."

3. He loves to play!

This kid can play with his train set for hours. I wish I could understand more of what he is saying and what is going through his mind because I think his trains have pretty exciting adventures. He is always yelling, "oh no," or "go, go."

4. He is just sweet! Don't you think?

Fast asleep in his high chair, daylight savings is hard on a little guy!

Twin Haircuts and Baby Names

Yesterday we had a few errands to run, the first was to get haircuts for Ethan and Clark. Ethan was so good sitting up in the chair like a big boy while his Dad was in the chair next to him. I felt like his haircut aged him - I guess he is ready to turn 2 now!

Enjoying the post-cut sucker.

Clark had fun dressing Ethan this weekend. Last night Clark got him ready for a friend's birthday party, they were both wearing khaki's and long sleeved striped sweaters.

Today after church they both came down to dinner in gray t-shirts and camouflaged fleece pants.

I guess we don't need to ask, "who da baby daddy is?"

While running errands I took along a book a friend leant me called, "The Baby Naming Wizard." Clark and I are bad at coming up with baby names, we usually just start laughing at all the weird names we come up with and don't come up with anything normal. We made it through the A's, B's, and part of the C's and added a few to our list. Right now we are calling the baby Stetson, the book describes this name as "having a swaggering sound, but like a Stetson hat, it looks a little out of place once you get too far from rodeo country."

So as you can see, we are defnitely open for suggestions, any ideas?

A Couple of Buddies!

This morning Clark got up with Ethan so I could sleep a few extra minutes. When I came down I was greeted by a Pop-Tart that Ethan was so excited to give me, and both of my boys were wearing winter hats. Ethan insisted that Dada and Eee Eee wear the hats!

(Just watching cartoons sitting on his favorite chair)

Ethan was pretty much in heaven watching Saturday morning cartoons and wrestling with his Dad!

The Great Meltdown of 2010

(and no, I'm not referring to Ethan's and then my own ultra meltdown at FedEx Kinko's yesterday)...

I'm referring to the literal meltdown around here, the Ice Age here in Iowa is over!

Exhibit A

We can see grass in our yard!

Exhibit B

We can see the fence again!

Exhibit C

The driveway has no ice or snow on it!

The last few days temperatures have risen to the low 40's and everything is melting. Now we are preparing for a flooded basement.

Clark trying to salvage what is left of the pitiful bushes!

Spring anyone?

Primary Talent Olympics

Last weekend we had a talent show for our primary activity. We went with an Olympic theme and the kids loved it.

At the beginning all of the kids got to be in the "parade of nations." We gave them all little U.S. flags and marched around the gym behind a torch carrier to the Olympic theme and fanfare music. I started the parade as the torch carrier wearing Clark's snowboard helmet and goggles, Ethan marched with me holding my hand and a BYU flag (just to ruffle a few feathers). He thought the parade was all about him! As we marched through the parents in the audience he had the biggest grin on his face!

The primary president got to "light" the big torch on the stage so the games could begin! (My big torch didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned but the kids thought it was cool anyway - it did really light up though). I had fun making the decorations and working on a lip sync with the activity day girls.

After each performance the kids got a gold medal made out of a Twix bar.

Kids could either display things or do a performance. It was a fun day!